February 25: Gaspar Yves (Catholic University, Milan) – “Time, between Mathematics and Physics”
Sala Paci, Via Festa del Perdono 7, h. 11:00-13:00
Abstract: In their recent work Lee Smolin and Roberto M. Unger, “The singular universe and the reality of time” (CUP 2017), suggest that, although the concept of time tends to evade mathematical description, it ought to be incorporated as a fundamental primitive concept in physical theories in order to tackle the crisis of modern cosmology and to make progress in the search for a quantum theory of gravity.
The problem of time ought to be addressed not only from the perspective of special relativity, but also from the perspective of general relativity and of quantum physics – many of the ways in which the concept of time is introduced depends on how these two great physical theories are combined.
Starting from a discussion of these issues, an attempt will be presented which tries to reformulate fundamental axioms of set theory (and thus of the basis of number theory) in order to “naturally include time” and in order to offer room for the inclusion of features which refer to properties of quantum systems.
This approach is also inspired by the viewpoint adopted by Anton Zeilinger, which considers the concept of information to be crucial in order to describe the quantum behaviour of natural systems and a reference to the so-called quantum no-cloning theorem in relation to the concept of time will also be made.
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